Halls Creek player Sam Petrevski-Seton stops by Los Angeles on way to AFL

Gil Griffin

For someone from a remote outback town of about 1800 souls, sudden immersion into a sprawling, hectic megalopolis of nearly 19 million can scramble and scuttle the senses. Especially in an unfamiliar country.

Sam Petrevski-Seton, a 17-year-old footy phenom from the tiny East Kimberley town of Halls Creek, needed only a few words to describe expansive Los Angeles, where this week he and about three-dozen members of the NAB AFL Academy finished a high performance camp:

But the recent graduate of Perth's Clontarf Aboriginal College commented with an easygoing smile. Sitting in a hotel lobby in the seaside chic suburb of Santa Monica, a world away from his native Tanami Desert, as the dense volume of human and auto traffic paraded outside, Petrevski-Seton seemed mildly amused, not intimidated.

It's a long way from Halls Creek to Los Angeles...and the AFL. Photo: Jacky Ghossein JGZ

After all, on the oval, the Claremont Tigers midfielder — who many footy experts say will be an AFL top-five draft choice in November — coolly and mesmerisingly weaves in, out, through and around congestion, while smoothly hitting targets off his boot, like his idol, Hawthorn's 2015 Norm Smith medallist, Cyril Rioli.

Brenton Sanderson, the AFL National Academy head coach and former Adelaide Crows senior coach has known Petrevski-Seton for six months, but he too, notices his unflappability.

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"He has poise and composure," said Sanderson.

"He has another gear on the rest of the boys. When everyone else is in top gear, he's in overdrive. And he's a beautiful kick."

Sanderson likens Petrevski-Seton to both Rioli and Port Adelaide's dynamic small forward, Chad Wingard. While Petrevski-Seton humbly downplays raves, he confidently locks eyes with whomever he's talking to — just as in one-on-one interviews with AFL scouts on the U.S. trip.

"I was pretty stoked to share my talents with the teams," he said.

Not much overawes Petrevski-Seton: Not an MCG Grand Final curtain raiser, where he kicked two goals from 12 touches for the Academy, against another all-star under-18 side, the Allies; Not his senior WAFL debut last year; Not two consecutive WAFL colts grand finals; and certainly not two straight under-16 championships in which he won medals for being his division's best player.